Founded in 1722, the glorious Baroque Klementinum Library is often overlooked by bibliophiles visiting Prague. Every one heads for the magnificent Strahov Monastery Library—sometimes even walking right by the Klementinum on the way. Once you view the video below, you won’t make that mistake.
The engaging and moving film Sugarless Tea uses watercolor paintings and stop motion techniques to visualize a very personal story of a journey between rural India and Queens, New York. Created by painter Amanda Selvarajan and her husband filmmaker Sai Selvarajan, this stunningly beautiful short is narrated by comedian Hari Kondabolu.
This past January, the Book Train began regularly scheduled daily runs in Korea’s Gyeonggi-do Province outside of Seoul. One car of each train is lined with book shelves stocked with everything from children’s books and poetry to novels and contemporary nonfiction for borrowers. There are also devices available for downloading free ebooks. The Book Tain also hosts author readings and other live book events. What a great way to de-stress the commute.
photos by Sohn JiAe
What everyone should do today:
Sweden’s National Tourist Association wants to connect you with a new friend in Sweden. If you dial + 46 771 793 336, day or night, a switchboard will automatically connect you with a volunteer “ambassador” who will answer any questions that you may have about the country. In fact, they’ll probably chat about anything that you like, even how much the sequel to the Girl With The Dragon tattoo sucked. Just keep in mind that you’re paying for the call, not the Swedish tourism folks.
Running from Moscow to Vladivostok, the Trans-Siberian Railway is more than 5,000 miles long. Not many travelers complete a roundtrip on the line, but French electronic musician William Reze (aka Thylacine) spent the entire summer on the route last year composing his new album.
The first single from the album (which will be released next month) is aptly titled “Train”. It wonderfully captures the rhythms of rail travel, while the music video for the cut incorporates images recorded during Reze’s odyssey back and forth across Russia.
I’m a sucker for “then & now” photo mash-ups like this wonderful series of Parisian scenes. These images of Paris, all taken between 1871 and 1968, were then re-photographed at the exact spot and from the same angle. The series is from a new book by Paris-based photographer and art director Julien Knez titled Paris, Fenêtres sur l’Histoire. You may already know Knez from his wonderful pop culture blog golem13.
